Just Around The Corner
by starryeyesxx
Summary: 11 years after the finale, Ryan runs into Summer.
1. Chapter 1

Ryan wasn't running late this morning, so he decided to walk. He decided to get a coffee, he had an important meeting this morning, all to do with some new houses that Ryan's company wanted to build. So far the project had been fraught with obstacles & Ryan was getting more and more stressed as it went on. He queued up behind a brunette and when he heard her order, he recognised the brunette instantly. 

"Summer?"

She turned around to face him, holding her coffee.

"Ryan? Um….hi."

"Hi." Ryan wished he pretended not to recognise her, things were just awkward between them.

"So how have you been?" She asked.

"Busy, work is……well I guess you know."

"Yeah." She politely smiled. "I've actually got a big meeting this morning, so I should go."

"Ok, then" Ryan replied actually relieved.

She began to walk away, but turned around and smiled at him.

"It's been good to see you, Ryan"

She hugged him, Ryan was thrown at first, but it felt familiar. He still thought of her as his friend, so hugging her should be normal. Really.

Summer then left, and Ryan watched her go. God, that was awkward. He wondered if he should tell Seth about seeing Summer, but Seth still seemed bitter about the divorce. Maybe he should just keep it to himself. Maybe he should stop being distracted and get his mind back on his meeting.

He stopped thinking about Summer easier then you'd expect, but as soon as he walked into the meeting with his colleagues. It was pretty hard not to. She was sitting opposite him.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryan was thrown to see her there, Summer however did not bat an eyelid, she barely even looked at him.

So, Summer was the one suing him.

Ryan got lost in his thoughts, he replayed the last few months in his mind, how could he not know Summer was behind all this. How could he know Summer would be so devious.

"You can't build on the greenbelt." Ryan snapped back into reality when Summer finally said something amongst all the lawyers arguing.

"Can we reschedule?" He said, without even realising.

"Reschedule? Do you know how long we've been waiting to meet you Mr. Atwood?" The man sitting next to Summer asked. "I thought everybody wanted to reach a settlement today."

"I know and I have prepared for this meeting, but there some information I didn't have at the time."

"Ryan?" His colleague asked curiously, but Ryan just shook his head. He wasn't ready to tell.

Summer turned to the lawyers next to her, "You know what? Rescheduling would be fine. There's some things I need to do as well."

The dark haired man looked at her intently, Ryan watched. He saw Summer touch his arm. The man noticed well, & Ryan could see him squirming.

"Colin, I know what I'm doing." She assured him.

And she did. She was hitting on this 'Colin' guy to get her own way. Ryan couldn't believe that this was the Summer he used to know.

"So it's agreed?" Ryan's colleague asked, Tom, asked.

"Yes." Summer replied, "My assistant will call your office sometime."

Everyone in the room started putting papers back into their briefcase accept for Ryan, he was still too thrown.

People started leaving the room, Summer was last to walk out. But she closed the door instead.

"I guess you want to talk." She said.

"You knew didn't you? You knew I'd be here, and you knew that I didn't know you would be here."

"I knew you'd be here, but I thought you knew I was here. I didn't realise that you didn't know until this morning."

"How would I know that you'd be here?" Ryan asked, raising his voice.

"I sent letters to your office signed Miss. Roberts" She responded, matching his volume.

"I thought you were still Cohen." That stopped the conversation.

Summer broke their eye contact and looked away, Ryan knew he had hurt her.

After a minute, Summer finally spoke.

"Well I'm not, I changed my name back."

"Yeah, I get that now." Ryan replied. "Why didn't you say anything this morning?"

"I don't know, I was just surprised that you weren't expecting me. Also, seeing you again is…………really strange."

"I'm sorry." Ryan understood completely meant. "So what are we going to do?"

"What?" Summer was confused.

"About the greenbelt. We can't both be working on this."

"Well we're not working on the same side."

"That's what I meant. With our history……we shouldn't be doing this."

"GEORGE wants to buy the greenbelt off your company."

Summer sat back down opposite Ryan, she instantly reverted into business mode.

"Summer, this is really important to my career that I can build these houses. We're not going to sell the greenbelt."

"It's really important to the environment that you don't build those houses."

Ryan saw the passion in Summer's eyes. It's good to know there was some of the old Summer left in there.

"Well then I guess, we're not going to reach a solution by ourselves then. I can't believe you're suing me."

"Don't make it personal here, Ryan. My company is suing your company."

"Summer, you can't expect it not to get personal." 


	3. Chapter 3

Ryan walk up to the Cohen's house in Berkeley. He could smell the warm crisp air, he loved it here.

But after college, he found a really good job opportunity in Orange County. He couldn't say no, even if it meant he had to move back there. He thought he'd be able to transfer back to Berkeley after a year, at most. Ryan was now 29, living in a clone of the Cohen's old house all by himself, working at the same company, but he had moved up in it a lot.

Ryan knocked on the door and Sandy answered.

"Ryan." Sandy greeted him.

"Hey" Ryan replied and they hugged.

"Wow, we weren't expecting you. You're lucky you came tonight tough, Kirsten's cooking."

That sentence still felt strange to Ryan, but Kirsten had become an amazing cook over the past eleven years.

"Actually I need to talk to you." Ryan's tone changed.

"Girl problems?" Sandy raised an eyebrow.

"Kinda. More like an ethical dilemma. I don't know if it's a good idea to let Kirsten and everyone know."

"Oh, ok." Sandy realised the problem was more serious than he thought. "We'll talk out here then."

Sandy closed the door and they walked to the brick wall at the front of the garden and sat down.

"I ran into Summer today."

Sandy was shocked, but then he realised that it shouldn't be a surprise.  
"Oh, well I guess that had to happen sooner or later." he replied. "How was she?"

"Really different. Not the Summer I used to know."

"Well a lot happened, I'd be surprised if things hadn't changed."

Ryan knew Sandy was right, but for years he still thought of her as the drunk Newport Barbie who hit on him his second night in Orange County.

"Well, she still works with GEORGE, and she's the one suing my company over the greenbelt."

"Well, there's a twist." Sandy raised his eyebrows again.

"I know, that's why I was actually going for some advice.

"Oh," Sandy sat and thought about it. "Well Kirsten and I fought over the heights do you remember that?"

"Not really, but go on."

"Now that was personal." Sandy recalled. "But we both just endured it until it was over."

"But it only lasted a couple of weeks. Summer and I could be fighting over this for years"  
Sandy sat there in silence again. "Wow, you've actually found a problem I don't know the answer to"  
"Do you think I should tell Seth?" Ryan asked.

"No," Sandy replied quickly. "There's no need to, Summer's only a part of your work life."

"Ok." Ryan looked down again.

"I know what will make you feel better," Sandy smiled.

"What"  
"A nice home cooked meal."

Sandy lead Ryan back up to the house. 


	4. Chapter 4

Ryan went home. He still couldn't believed where he lived. He never thought he could afford a place like that growing up.

He thought about Summer and how it was only a matter of days before he'd be faced with her again. He decided to call her and try and make peace again.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hi, Summer."

"Ryan?" Summer asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I think we need to talk. Will you come over?"

"Ryan, I don't want to do all of this."

"Please, Summer?"

Ryan heard he take a breath, he listened for an answer for wait seemed like forever.

"Ok, then."

He gave her directions to his new place then hung up. If Seth knew that Summer was coming over……..Ryan didn't want to think about what would happen.

He changed into a simple T-shirt and jeans. Then there was a knock on the door, Summer had arrived before Ryan had prepared himself to actually see her again.

Ryan ran over and opened the door.

"Hi." he said.

"Hi."

Ryan looked at her so uncomfortably, he thought she would be as well, but she just looked annoyed.

"Are you going to invite me in or what?"

"Oh, sorry." He let her in and heard her heels click against the floor.

He took a moment to admire what she was wearing, really high black heals, a black skirt that went just past her knees, and a blazer. Also black. She used to be a lot more colourful then this. Ryan couldn't help but associate her with Reed, the woman who played Seth & Zach for months over the comic book.

She walked in and turned to him.

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know. You…..work…the way that you and my work have strangely collided."

"Ryan, I'm sorry but it's not up and to me and I-"

"Maybe we should sit down before we get into everything." Ryan interrupted her.

He lead her through his house to the living room, where they sat down.

"This house looks just like the one you used to live in"  
"I know, that's why I liked it I think"  
"You live here alone?" Summer asked.

"Yeah."

"No girlfriend or anything?"

Summer was surprised that Ryan seemed to be alone.

"No, just me." Ryan looked embarrassed. "What about you?" After Ryan asked this, he realised that he shouldn't have.

"Uh….no..I've not…..not ready yet."

"I understand."

He could tell she was embarrassed, that she was used to being confident and putting up a wall, but to him it felt like it used to. She never had a wall with him.

"This shouldn't be so weird. We used to be friends." Ryan said, trying to break the ice. He smiled at her, but she didn't smile back.

"And then we weren't."

"You can't blame me for that." Ryan defended himself.

"You completely cut me out of your life, Ryan." She looked at him coldly.

"I didn't have a choice." Ryan defended himself.

"You were supposed to be my friend"  
"But Seth is my brother, I couldn't not take his side"  
"Nobody took my side! I lost everyone, my family, my friends."

"That's not my fault." Ryan pleaded.

"Well it's not my fault, I didn't do anything wrong!" Summer stood up.

"I know, I'm sorry"  
"This was a bad idea."

Summer started to leave, so Ryan got up too.

"Summer wait!"

She went straight for the door, but Ryan ran after her and grabbed her arm.

"Please stay. Please just talk to me."

He let go of her when she seemed to soften.

"But we're not friends anymore, Ryan."

Summer opened the door and left Ryan with his guilt. 


	5. Chapter 5

Summer drove home. It all came back to her so fast, how everyone turned their backs on her, and chose Seth over her. As if losing her husband wasn't bad enough she lost everyone else who mattered to her as well.

She could tell Ryan felt guilty, that he was really trying with her, but that just made it worse. It made her miss him, but she knew that they could never be friends. That Seth would never allow it, and Ryan would never risk his relationship with Seth just to be her friend.

For the first time in months, a tear trickled down her cheek.

She pulled up to her Dad's old house. It was similar to Ryan's: empty. Kaitlin went to college first, then Taylor moved back to Paris, and Julie, Frank and their son moved into a house Bullit had bought them. Summer thought that her Dad would move back in with her, but he retired and was living in Europe with the step-monster.

At first, Summer and Seth lived in their own apartment, but when they started having problems, Summer moved back home. After a few months, she moved back in with Seth to work harder on their relationship, but then everything fell apart and it only made sense that she moved into the house.

She went inside and just wished that she had something to do, but her life had become all about work.

She went to bed, and as much as she tried not to, she cried herself to sleep. 


	6. Chapter 6

Summer was awoken by her phone ringing. She checked the time…..10 o'clock? How did she sleep for so long? Thank God it was a Saturday. 

Summer picked up her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, again."

Ryan, She thought, she contemplated hanging up on him, but he sounded sincere, plus it was nice to be talking to someone.

"What is it?"

"I've been thinking a lot about everything, and you're right we're not friends." Summer felt the sting of those words. "Bu we should be. I mean…we've known each other for what……fifteen years? It would be crazy for us not to be friends"  
"Ryan, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. So what do you say?"

"I say I'll be at your house in fifteen." Summer hung up the phone, but she knew Ryan was smiling. And she actually let herself smile.

She got up, and quickly showered then thought about what to wear. Today wasn't a day for black.

* * *

Ryan let Summer in and it felt like things were starting to get back to normal. For one thing, she was wearing jeans and a white strappy top, but she was still wearing those black boots. Ryan actually felt intimidated by them, because now Summer was nearly as tall as him.

"Hi, you're late."

"I know, I'm sorry. I couldn't decide what to wear."

He laughed at her.

"It's good to have you back, Roberts."


	7. Chapter 7

Ryan and Summer ate lunch at the mall. They had been catching up all morning, it felt like they have never been apart.

They finished and stood up to leave, and once again Ryan was reminded of how much taller Summer seemed.

"God Roberts, those boots."

"What about them?" She innocently asked.

"I'm just not used to you being this tall, your nearly normal person sized now."

"Oh, looks who's talking." She hit him, and he playfully hit her back.

"If you're nice to me, maybe I can get Taylor to send some over from Paris for you too."

Ryan's interest peaked when Summer mentioned Taylor.

"Taylor? How is she?"

Summer remembered Ryan and Taylor's previous relationship and wished she never brought her up.

"She's good."

"And her kids? How old are they now?"

"They good too. Pierre's six now and Isabelle's…..three, I think."

"So she's happy?"

Summer smiled at him. She knew he wasn't jealous, or that he missed Taylor, but he just wanted everyone to be happy.

"She's happy."

"Good." Ryan said, then his smile faded. "I wish I could say the same about you. You're not happy are you?"

Summer looked to the ground, then back up at him.

"I'm getting happier." She responded. Then Ryan put his arm around her and they walked through the mall together.

They were about to leave, but then Summer saw the same psychic who had once told her that she was not going to be spending her life with Seth. It took some convincing for Ryan to go over there with her, but Summer got her way in the end.

"Hi."

Summer said to the psychic.

"Oh, it's you. Sit down, child." The old woman responded.

"You remember me?"

"I do, are you still with George?"

Summer sat down, while Ryan watched confused. "Strangely, I am, but not in the romantic way."

"I see a great sadness" the psychic said, "You've had your heartbroken."

"Yes." Summer sadly recalled. "But, that's in the past. I want to know about the future."

"Your life is about to change….for the better. Things are going to get a lot better. This is very strange…..I don't understand it, but maybe you will."

"Hit me." Summer anticipated.

"You have found your Sandy Cohen." Summer smiled. "Is that a good thing?"

"Yes, that's a good thing." Summer responded to the psychic. "Thank you."

Summer said as she stood up.

"What was that about?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing."

As Summer stood up, she took Ryan's arm and they walked out the mall together. 


	8. Chapter 8

Summer and Ryan went back to Ryan's, and decided to spend the afternoon together, as well as the morning.

"It's so weird."

"What is?" Ryan asked.

"It's just this house, I almost expect us to go hang out in the pool house."

"I know, I've slept there a couple of times."

"Really?" Summer laughed. "Maybe we should go hang out in there now."

"We could."

Summer's mouth was wide open when she stepped into the pool house. It looked exactly like the one Ryan used to live in.

"Oh my God, Ryan. Are you sure the Cohen's house was really destroyed? Because I think we're in it."

Ryan followed her in & sat on the bed as Summer wondered around.

"I know. It just didn't feel right having it any other way."

"I must say I'm a bit disappointed though." Summer stood there with her hands on her hips.

"Why?" Ryan asked, suspicious about what she was going to say.

"I can't see any wife-beaters."

Ryan laughed to himself.

"Then you're not looking hard enough." Ryan responded.

Summer got this excited look on her face and started looking round the room, while Ryan watched laughing at her.

She eventually found a box under the bed, and when she opened it up, she was very happy to see a trademark Ryan wife-beater.

"Oh my God, Ryan. This is so sweet, that you kept these."

"Well, I thought one day I might want to put one on again."

Summer gave him a challenging look.

"Why don't you put one on now?"

Ryan laughed at her again. "Summer, no."

"Oh, come on." She whined.

"No."

"Fine then" Summer pouted, "Just as well, I don't think you could fit into them anymore"  
"What?" Ryan asked, not believing the words that had come out of her mouth.

"I'm just saying…." Summer said innocently "you're clearly not sixteen anymore. Ryan it's nothing to be ashamed of, everyone puts on weight as they get older."

"I am in the peak physical condition of my life." Ryan argued. It was true, he worked out for nearly an hour every day, and the benefits were obvious.

"Prove it, then."

"Fine."

Summer threw Ryan the wife-beater and watched as he took off his T-shirt, it was true. Summer had seen Ryan topless many times, and she knew that he was in the peak physical condition of his life. She got lost watching him, but when he put the wife-beater back on, she snapped back into reality and realise how ridiculous he looked.

Summer burst out laughing.

"See, this is why I didn't want to put it on." Ryan sighed. "But it does still fit."

"Aww, you look good." Summer stopped laughing, but she had the biggest grin on her face.

"I know I do." Ryan responded.

"Being here like this, I feel sixteen again."

"I know what you mean." 


	9. Chapter 9

As the weeks went on, Ryan and Summer continued to see each other, and they were both getting much happier because of it.

They still had to deal with meetings at work, but neither of them took them as seriously anymore, they just smiled at each other coyly from across the table, without really listening to the other people in the room.

But tonight, Ryan wasn't with Summer. Once a month, Seth would come round to catch up and play video games, they saw each other a lot more often than that, but this was for the much required Seth/Ryan time.

They sat playing video games, it was as natural as breathing for the two of them. As always, Seth narrated every move his ninja made and scoffed about every bad guy they killed.

But Ryan's head wasn't in it, and that was enough to get them killed.

"What's going on? We've never been killed before level eight before!" Seth exclaimed.

"I know, I'm distracted"  
"Work stuff?"

"Kinda." Ryan replied. Wow, he was acting sixteen again. He was hardly talking like he used to.

"That's why we need to play video games, to avoid the suck-fest reality which is our lives."

"I have to tell you something. Important."

Seth turned to face Ryan on the couch.

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"It's upsetting. Maybe…I don't know."

Seth smiled. "Just spit it out"  
"I've been seeing Summer"  
"Summer? Oh….wait what do you mean by seeing her?"

Ryan's eyes widened. "Oh no, not like that at all. Just hanging out with her. As friends."

Seth didn't make eye contact with Ryan, just looked at the controller in his hands, while Ryan patiently waited for a reaction.

"Well…why?"

"I think she's lonely. She has no one else…plus she's my friend."

Seth finally looked at Ryan.

"I thought you were on my side." Seth said sadly.

Ryan puts his hands over his face, then took them away. "Seth this isn't about sides. And at the time I expected you two to end up being friends anyway."

Seth sat there silently, thinking about everything that had transpired between him and Summer and wondered if friendship could have been a possibility.

"I told you, because I didn't want any secrets, and I was hoping you would be ok with it."

Seth nodded in understanding. "Yeah, it's cool. Well not cool, but I'm glad she has someone looking out for her."

Ryan felt sorry for Seth, he knew a part of him was still very much in love with Summer, and that was the part of him that wanted Ryan to look after her.

They recovered from the touchy subject, and returned to playing video games, ordering pizza, and just spending the night as brothers. 


	10. Chapter 10

Lunch had quickly become the favourite part of Ryan's day. Not because of food, the food was horrible, but this place was Summer's favourite so there was no arguing.

They sat at a little table outside and talked about how there day had been so far. Ryan knew he had to tell her about Seth, but since they had become 're-friends' neither one of them had mentioned his name once, so Ryan wasn't sure how to bring it up.

"What's up?" She said, smiling

"Huh?" Ryan looked at her confused.

"I can tell something's bothering you, you keep fidgeting and daydreaming, and usually you offer me the rest of your sandwich by now." She smiled at him sweetly, and he couldn't help but smile back, then he handed his sandwich over to her.

"Thank you."

Ryan took a second just to watch her eat. He loved that she ate, usually women don't like to without thinking about calories. But Summer ate, and she enjoyed it. And secretly, Ryan enjoyed watching her. He watched her lips, red and full. Then he looked at her skin, not as tanned as it used to be, but smooth and soft. His eyes continued to go down to her breasts, she was wearing quite a loose shirt, but he could see the black bra she was wearing under it.

Then Ryan remembered Seth.

"Seth." He said loudly.

Summer was taken aback, by this and actually stopped eating.

Ryan expected her to say something, but instead she watched him waiting for an explanation.

"I wasn't sure if I should bring this up, but I talked to Seth. About you."

Summer looked him right in the eye, she looked hurt and curious, but Ryan could see she was angry underneath.

"What about me?"

"Just that I've been hanging out with you. I thought that he should know, I mean he was going to find out sooner or later and I thought he should know sooner and I should be the one to tell him."

Summer half nodded then looked sideways at the ground.

After a few seconds, she broke the silence. "So he was ok with it?"

"Yeah, I think so. I just explained to him that you were lonely and you needed someone."

Summer squinted her eyes "Is that what you think?" She said, Ryan knew he said something wrong but he didn't get what. "Is that why you wanted to be friends with me? Because you felt sorry for me?"

"No." Ryan quickly replied, trying hard to resolve the situation.

"Then why?"

"I guess I just…………you have been one of my best friends since I was sixteen and when you and Seth split up, I couldn't see you and I got used to it, then I saw you and I realised that I missed you. That I wanted you back in my life."

Summer still looked a bit hurt, but a small smile came over her face.

She put her hand over Ryan's and held it tightly.

"Thanks. I wanted you back in my life as well."

He shyly smiled back at her. And they looked at each other, for a full minute before Summer got back to eating Ryan's sandwich. And Ryan got back to watching her.

As Ryan walked back to work. He thought about Summer. Summer's lips. What they would feel like if he could touch them with his own.

Ryan shook his head and tried to think about houses and building permits and the things he should be thinking about. Then he remembered when Summer touched his hand, and his skin seemed to be on fire where hers was touching him.

But, she'd touched him before. And he saw her lips a lot, he couldn't understand why he couldn't get either of those things off his mind.

Ryan sat as his desk, his mind had gotten so lost in constructing one damn house he could actually stop thinking about Summer.

Then his colleague Tom walked in, and Ryan came back to reality.

"We got to talk."

Ryan seemed confused, was his job in trouble?

"Ok." He nervously said.

"I saw you having lunch with that girl from the greenbelt case today, Miss. Roberts."

"Oh."

"So tell me" Tom then started smiling.

"Tell you what?" Ryan became more confused then he was five seconds earlier.

Tom walked over to him and sat sideways on Ryan's desk.

"You are hitting that. I want the details."

Ryan actually felt disappointed that Tom was wrong.

"It's not like that."

"Oh, come on. Ok, I saw how uncomfortable you got when she first showed up, then you two ended up alone in the meeting room. Since then you two always give each other smiles and there's this eye contact thing."

"Really, Tom. It's not like that. She's my brother's ex-wife."

Tom looked disappointed and he stood up, while Ryan turned to his computer and started emailing his bosses about the progress of all his projects. He expected Tom to leave the room, but he just kept standing there staring at Ryan.

"So, she's your brother's ex-wife, but your still sleeping with her aren't you?"

"What? No! Really, there is nothing going on."

Ryan couldn't believe that Tom wouldn't just let this go.

"But, I saw you two at lunch and she was holding your hand, and you were looking at her."

Ryan suddenly became a lot more uncomfortable.

"Tom, I have a lot or work to do and I usually end up doing your work as well, so can you just leave me alone."

Tom's jaw clenched while Ryan got back to emailing his superiors. Tom gave Ryan this look, and if his eyes were lasers, Ryan would be dead by now. He held it a few seconds longer, then walked out pissed. 


	11. Chapter 11

The day was over, and Ryan was safe at home now. Safe from anyone realising what he was thinking about Summer.

After three cold showers, a swim in the pool, and trying to switch his attention to a different girl by reading playboy, he still couldn't think of anyone about Summer.

It was like their whole history was flashing before his eyes, he remembered how when they were at the beach or in a pool, she's always let him touch her when they were playing. How warm her body felt when he got to hug her. How on New Year's Ever, Chrismukkah, and on his birthday she would always kiss him on the cheek. But most of all he thought about the night he had first met her, how Ryan couldn't help but check her out when Seth point her out at the party, how she strutted down the runway and he admired her tanned legs, how she shyly yet sweetly invited him to the after party, and how she hit on him at the after party.

If there was one thing Ryan could go back and change right now, he would never have turned her down that night. Seth still would have interrupted them though.

Seth.

Ryan wondered if he doing anything wrong, but then he scalded himself for even thinking it. Of course he was wrong! He knew Seth still had feelings for Summer and as much as he wished it wasn't true, he knew that Summer had feelings for Seth as well.

But Seth has a girlfriend now, he argued with himself. He hadn't told Summer about it yet, he knew it would hurt her. Despite Seth's new girlfriend. It just wasn't right. God I need help, he realised as he lay on his bed.

Another drive to Berkeley, another smell of that crisp air, another knock on the door, and Sandy Cohen once again curiously opened his door.

"Another talk?" He asked, almost humoured by it.

"Yeah, a Summer talk. Outside again."

The two returned to there positions on the brick wall, accept this time Ryan didn't know if he could stand to talk about his problem.

"I think I see the problem, you've lost your voice yes?"

Ryan gave Sandy one of his trademarks looks of annoyance.

"Ryan, I can't help you if you don't tell me."

Ryan looked away from the grass in front of him, and looked Sandy in the eye. He felt such shame, but he knew he had to say it.

"I can't stop thinking about Summer."

"And by that, you mean……?"

"Yes." Ryan looked away again "I can't stop thinking about her, I think about everything about her, the way she talks, the way she smiles, the way she walks, the way she eats…."

Sandy sat there still reeling from Ryan's confession. But he knew he had to ask a specific question.

"Are you in love with her?"

Ryan looked back at Sandy, then closed his eyes, to think about that question.

"I definitely have feelings for her. I'm not in love with Summer, but I'm falling in love with her."

Sandy comfortingly put his hand on Ryan's shoulder.

"Listen kid, there is only one way to deal with this and it's very unlikely you will have a happy ending."

"Tell me." Ryan's voice grew a lot quieter and weaker.

"First, you talk to Seth. Explain everything to him, if it's not ok with him, you forget about her. It won't be easy but it'll be the only thing that you can do. If Seth gives you his blessing, tell Summer see if she feels the same way. If she doesn't try and go back to being friends, if she does…..well you've got your happily ever after."

"Thanks." Ryan said to Sandy, & gave him a little smile of gratitude.

Lunch rolled around again. He was sitting with Summer at that same table, today she was wearing a much tighter shirt, but it was a dark blue so he couldn't see through it.

They talked about the things they usually talk about, but today Ryan wasn't really listening he just kept wondering what Summer felt about him. All of a sudden every time she looked at him, every time she smiled at him became a mystery Ryan had to try and untangle.

"Ok, you're distracted again." She finally called him on his absentmindedness. "What is it?"

He thought about saying 'nothing', then he looked at the gorgeous smile on her face, & without thinking about it he responded; "I was thinking about a girl I like."

"Ooh, a girl. Have you been keeping secrets from me, Atwood? Because you haven't mentioned anything about a girl before."

"I know, but with my history….. it's not that I like her it's that I really like her and there's all these complications and it would be really difficult." Ryan paused and stopped rambling "It's hard letting someone in."

"I know." She looked at him sincerely, and Ryan saw an opportunity.

"What about you? I mean you and Seth have been apart for over a year now. Is there anyone else you like?"

She nervously brushed her hair out of her face. "Ryan, it's not that simple."

"I know, but" Ryan watched her intently "are you thinking about dating again?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it."

"Is that because you still have feelings for Seth?"

"Atwood, what is with all these questions today?"

Summer threw her hands in the air, she felt on the spot and needed to shift the attention back to Ryan.

"Sorry, we just never talked about Seth."

He thought Summer would say why, or say that she didn't want to talk about Seth, but she remained silent.

"Want the rest of my sandwich?" Ryan asked, bringing the mood up again.

"Finally you offered, I've been starving over here."

He handed her his sandwich, and once again delighted himself by watching her eat it. 


	12. Chapter 12

"Ok, I love you like a brother, but what's up?" Seth asked as Ryan was offering him more pizza.

"Nothing's up." Ryan replied, deciding to keep the slice of pizza for himself. Which is exactly what I should do with Summer.

"Ryan, we had our monthly Seth/Ryan time a few days ago. You need some advice?"

"I got advice." Ryan said. He held Seth's gaze, not knowing what to say.

"Advice about what? Ryan, you're acting really weird."

Ryan broke they staring contest, not able to look his brother in the eye anymore.

"It's about Summer."

"Oh." Seth's whole body tensed.

"I….I think I like her."

"You don't mean……"

Ryan nodded.

"Oh." Seth said, this time he was looking at the floor.

"I don't want to, but I can't help it." Ryan tried to explain, but he felt like his lust for Summer was better left unsaid.

"I just didn't want to keep it from you-"

"Ryan, it's too soon." Seth interrupted.

"I know, I don't mean that I'm going to do anything right now. I want you to be ok with it first." Ryan reached for the right words to tell Seth.

"Ok?" Seth asked. "You wait to until it's ok for you to hook up with your brothers wife?"

"Ex-wife." Ryan probably shouldn't have said that, but it was too late now.

"Either way, you were there when she walked down the aisle. You were my best man and now what…..you want her? That's never going to be ok."

"I know you'll need time to get used to the idea of it, but you're already moving on Seth."

"No! This isn't because I still have feelings for Summer, I do and you know it, but that's not it." Seth yelled. "It's because you're supposed to be my brother, and I can't believe you would even ask me if it's ok. I don't know why you even started hanging out with Summer."

Seth started heading for the door.

"Seth, wait." Ryan yelled, but it was too late. He was gone.

"Good job, Atwood." He said to himself.

Today Ryan dreaded lunch, he had just sat down at his desk that morning and he was already terrified. Should he cancel? The thought of going day without seeing Summer felt worse then seeing her, but not being able to have her. What if he did go to lunch and Seth caught them, Ryan had never been lucky with things like that.

A knock at the door broke Ryan's train of thought.

"Mr. Jones, come in." Ryan said, almost short of breath from his terror.

"Ryan, there's something I have to talk to you about."

"Ok," Ryan said slowly having the feeling that things were about to get worse.

"I like you, but I'm going to have to you off the greenbelt project." Mr. Jones said in that dreary voice that felt like a rainy day.

"What? Why?"

"Tom told us that the female who works for GEORGE is your brothers ex-wife."

Ryan remembered that he had pissed Tom off the other day, and now he's getting his revenge.

"Is it true?"

"Yes." Ryan coldly replied. "But it doesn't matter if you take me off the greenbelt project, I quit anyway."

"What?" Mr. Jones asked exasperated.

"I'll come back for my things tomorrow." Ryan stood up and walked past Mr. Jones and didn't stop. He walked right out of the building and back to his car. He got in and it sunk in how stupid he had just been, but that seemed to describe everything he had been doing lately. He drove home, more angry at himself then he ever thought. 


	13. Chapter 13

Ryan was home now and he had changed into sweats. Sometimes his life really sucked, but this time he knew it was all his fault that it sucked. He thought a lot about the day he saw Summer at the coffee shop, how he never thought it would lead to this. How he never thought he could feel this way for Summer.

It felt like he hadn't been home for very long, but he realised it was past one when he started to feel hungry, he decided to make himself lunch but when he looked in the fridge and started going through cupboards, he just wasn't in the mood to eat anything.

His searching was interrupted by a rapid knock at the door.

It kept knocking up until the second he opened it, & he saw a very worried looking Summer.

She stared at him almost disbelievingly, then she pulled him into a hug.

Ryan slowly put his arms around her, he could smell her hair. Before he could decide what it smelled like, Summer pulled away and slapped him.

"Ow."

"Where were you? I was really worried, Ryan." Summer angrily said.

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

"Forgot? Why are you home?"

"I quit."

"What? Why?"

Ryan didn't really want to go into everything, but she had asked, so…..

"They took off the greenbelt project, because they found out I knew you and I got pissed off."

"I'm so sorry, Ryan."

She finally stepped inside and he closed the door behind her.

"It's not your fault. But the pain on my left cheek is."

"Well, I'm not going to apologise for that because you should have called me."

Her eyes challenged him in a playful way, & once again Ryan was powerless to smile at her.

She then looked at her watch, & back to Ryan's face.

"I'm sorry, Ryan but I got to get back to work."

She started walking back to the door.

"Maybe we could meet up later though, I want to talk to you about this more."

"I can't tonight. Dinner at the Cohen's."

"Oh, right. I guess that I won't meet you for lunch tomorrow then."

"I guess not."

They looked at each other, Ryan knew that Summer wanted to arrange their next meeting before she left, but Ryan couldn't make any promises.

"So, I'll call you." He finally came up with.

Summer looked disappointed, like she'd heard those words before and knew exactly what they meant.

"Ok," She said.

Then she left and Ryan felt guilty, but he would have felt more guilty if he had made plans with her.

He hadn't yet decided if he was going to call her or not, maybe Sandy could help him again at dinner.

Ryan silently ate his dinner. Kirsten, Sandy and Sophie all sat around him, he knew that Seth wouldn't be there, but he was still miserable about it.

"So I'm sorry Seth isn't here, Ryan." Kirsten said as she handed him the potatoes.

"You are?" He asked, eyebrows arched.

"Well, yeah. Isn't that why you're being so quiet?"

Ryan exchanged looks with Sandy, then looked to Kirsten and knew he had to tell her.

She sat up straighter, when she realised that there was something going on and waited, then realise Ryan wasn't going to say anything with Sophie at the table.

"Sophie?" Kirsten said, "How would you like to eat dinner in front of the TV?"

"Cool!" Sophie said excitedly, it was a rare treat for her.

Sandy, Kirsten and Ryan watched carefully as she left the room with her dinner, then Kirsten looked expectantly at Ryan.

"So, what's going?"

"Seth's pretty mad at me, we had a fight." Ryan pretended to look interested in his food, and Kirsten continued to stare at him.

"About…..?"

Ryan looked back up at Kirsten. "I've been hanging out with Summer, and I've realised that I have feelings for her and I decided to tell Seth about them."

"That was a long sentence." Kirsten looked shocked, then at Sandy. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Of course." He coolly replied, then he turned his attention back to Ryan, "So, Seth didn't take it well then?"

"Clearly," Ryan replied "And I blew Summer off today so she might be mad at me as well." Ryan paused, "I told her I'd call her." Ryan took his eyes off his food and looked to his adoptive parents for help. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Kirsten put her hand on his arm affectionately, "Oh, Sweetie," She said "I think it all depends on how Summer feels."

"What?" Sandy asked almost immediately, looking at his wife in shock. "That's not what I said."

"Well, what did you say?" She asked, shifting in her chair.

"I said it had to be ok with Seth first, then he could see how Summer feels."

"Sandy, Seth isn't going to be ok with this until he's forced to. If the fate of this relationship is in Seth's hands, then Ryan is going to be miserable for a long time. If Ryan and Summer are together then he'll have no choice but to get over it."

Ryan decided to interrupt before they started arguing for real, "It doesn't matter anyway. Summer's still into Seth."

Ryan ate the rest of his dinner, well he poked it around on his plate while Sandy & Kirsten ate and talked about Seth & Summer to him.

He excused himself and went to the bathroom, then on his way back to the dining room he saw Sophie in the living room watching TV.

"Ryan, come watch this."

Ryan sighed, he really didn't want to watch…..whatever she was watching, but she was better company then Sandy & Kirsten right now because she didn't know his dark secret.

"So you like Summer, huh?" Sophie asked as Ryan sat down next to her.

He gave her a look that was partly annoyed, partly 'how the fuck do you know'.

"I'm eleven Ryan, I'm not stupid. And I overhead you say that you like, Summer."

"What do you think I should do then?" He asked her, figuring her advice can't be that much different from his adoptive parents.

"How much do you like her?"

"I don't know yet."

"Well, do you really, really want to be with her?"

"Yes." Ryan said, clenching his teeth as he was reminded of just how much he wanted to be with her.

"Then I'm sure being with her is worth going through whatever you have to go through to be with her."

"But there's no guarantee that I will be with her in the end."

"Well, you definitely won't end up with her if you don't try."

Ryan was surprised, that was actually some pretty damn good advice. 


End file.
